Tours in NY

[Thechamp555]

Going in NY late July while on the Carribean Princess cruise. Well arrive at the Brooklyn port.

 

What would be your top 5 tours to do ?

 

Thank you !

Edited July 16, 2023 by Thechamp555

[GTJ]

My interests likely differ from yours, so what I would plan may not be on your list. Five things that I would do with a day in Brooklyn, starting from Red Hook: (1) sightsee along Van Brunt Street, and up and coming urban avenue increasingly filled with interesting places to visit, including a PCC streetcar hidden behind the former Fairway, now Food Bazaar, and perhaps lunch at the Ikea store, (2) a visit to the New York Transit Museum, downtown under Livingston Street between Boerum Place and Court Street, including the exhibits on the mezzanine, the historic car fleet on the lower level, and its fabulous book and gift shop, (3) lower Fulton Street and the "old" downtown Brooklyn, a/k/a DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), including Juliana's for pizza and Jacques Torres for chocolate, (4) Williamsburg, notwithstanding all the young people who have "discovered" this historic place and former city in its own right (it was eventually annexed by the City of Brooklyn in 1855), it, and to a lesser extent neighboring Greenpoint, have a fabulous array of stores, architecture, and new waterfront revitalization, and (5) Coney Island, an icon for the past beach-boardwalk collection of things unusual. Others might include on their list of places to tour in Brooklyn places in Prospect Park (including the Brooklyn Museum), Sheepshead Bay, Green-Wood Cemetery, downtown Brooklyn, and Bushwick-Ridgewood. There's also the possibility of traveling to Manhattan, which also has a few things to see.

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, Thechamp555 said:

Going in NY late July while on the Carribean Princess cruise. Well arrive at the Brooklyn port.

 

What would be your top 5 tours to do ?

 

Thank you !

Consider walking around the corner and taking the ferry across to lower Manhattan - filled with easily accessible sights/activities,

[Thechamp555]

3 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

Consider walking around the corner and taking the ferry across to lower Manhattan - filled with easily accessible sights/activities,

Thsnk you , the 9/11 memorial is considered lower Manhattan ?

[markeb]

1 hour ago, Thechamp555 said:

Thsnk you , the 9/11 memorial is considered lower Manhattan ?

 

Yes. As is Battery Park, Wall Street, Trinity Church, for an out of towner maybe City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge (dividing lines are sometimes fuzzy to me; they probably aren't to a New Yorker...),

 

How much time do you have and what would you like to see. It's a big city...

 

And I'm going to have to pull up @GTJ's list. We have actually never been to Brooklyn...  I'm thinking pizza expedition!

[GTJ]

47 minutes ago, markeb said:

We have actually never been to Brooklyn...  I'm thinking pizza expedition!

Some of the key pizza spots in Brooklyn:

• Di Fara, generally regarded by most as the best in NYC, Midwood, on Avenue J at East 15th Street, next to BMT Brighton Beach ("Q" to Avenue J) subway line
• Juliana's, Brooklyn waterfront, on Fulton Street close to ferry, near IND Brooklyn ("A," "C" to High Street) subway line
• Grimalidi's, next door to Juliana's, is nearly as good
• Totonno's, Coney Island, on Neptune Avenue at West 16th Street, near BMT Stillwell Avenue subway terminal ("D," "F," "N," "Q")
• L&B Spumoni Gardens, Bensonhurst, on 86th Street at West 10th Street, between BMT West End ("D" to 25th Avenue) and BMT Sea Beach ("N" to 86th Street) subway lines
• Luigi's, South Brooklyn, on Fifth Avenue at 29th Street, near BMT Fourth Avenue ("R" to 25th Street) subway line
• Roberta's, Bushwick, Moore Street at Bogart Street, near BMT 14th Street-Canarsie ("L" to Morgan Avenue) subway line
• Lucali, Carroll Gardens, on Henry Street at Carroll Street, near IND Brooklyn ("F," "G" to Carroll Street) subway line

 

Some of these have additional locations. There are other good places--some very good--that I will not dispute (for example, recently I heard a good review of Wheated, Flatbush, on Church Avenue at Coney Island Avenue, between BMT Brighton Beach ("B," "Q" to Church Avenue) and IND Brooklyn ("F," "G" to Church Avenue) subway lines, but it is not on the list above because I do not think it has yet built a reputation). There's also some good places in Manhattan, but fewer in number, in part because places can survive in Manhattan without having to be that good . . . there's lots of tourists who will buy it anyway (many think that 99-cent pizza slices are great!). Good pizza in Manhattan includes John's of Bleecker Street, in Greenwich Village, and Patsy's, in East Harlem; Lombardi's, in Little Italy is okay, and we've also found John's of Times Square, in west Midtown on West 44th Street, as being acceptable when returning from out-of-town travel because it is so convenient to Port Authority Bus Terminal (what else is good in west midtown without spending a fortune? Los Tacos No. 1?!). And I will give a plug to my borough and say that the best in Queens County is Nick's, Forest Hills, on Ascan Avenue at Austin Street ("E," "F," "M," "R" to Forest Hills-71st Avenue). I don't known the Bronx or Staten Island well enough to give recommendations. But if one has the time then best to head to Brooklyn.

Edited July 16, 2023 by GTJ

[markeb]

Not going to hijack this one, but @GTJ I'll start a thread on Brooklyn in a day or two...

Edited July 16, 2023 by markeb

[lenquixote66]

Re Brooklyn Pizza. Having lived in Brooklyn nearly 60 years my thoughts for best pizza are:

DiFara on Ave.J

Totono’s

L&B Spumoni Gardens

Original on Ave.L in Canarsie

[Brighton Line]

23 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Re Brooklyn Pizza. Having lived in Brooklyn nearly 60 years my thoughts for best pizza are:

DiFara on Ave.J

Totono’s

L&B Spumoni Gardens

Original on Ave.L in Canarsie

Only 55 years (see my handle), agree with the above but might have a slightly different order. Only worth arguing between Brooklynites. 

[lenquixote66]

13 minutes ago, Brighton Line said:

Only 55 years (see my handle), agree with the above but might have a slightly different order. Only worth arguing between Brooklynites. 

My earliest memory of going to Brighton was boarding the train at either Prospect Park or Parkside Avenue and after the train left the Sheepshead Bay Station everyone would get up and look to see the ocean .My wife grew up in Coney Island and was on that line more than anyone I ever knew.